Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Twenty Six|| In The Nick of Time

If Charles hadn't been pacing the room he and Delia were currently in at the moment, he would've probably not nearly crashed into his daughter, the Maitlands, and Betelgeuse as they appeared, in a bright flash of light, in the center of the room. He halted his pacing and moved out of way right in the nick of time. He and Delia went over to join the rest of the family, him wrapping his arms around his daughter and Delia starting up a conversation with the Maitlands and Betelgeuse.

After a while, the conversation Delia was having with all three deceased subsided and the four of them moved to stand over by Charles and Lydia.

Upon seeing worried looks plastered on each of their faces, Charles asked, "is something the matter?"

Delia chose to explain the situation for the Maitlands and Betelgeuse. "Apparently Lydia's been having a series of visions. All of which having something to do with both of us being possessed. She, Barbara, Adam, and Betelgeuse are all worried about that and don't know what to do."

Charles blanked out for a second then came to, rubbing his beard with his hand. "When did they start?"

"A couple nights ago," replied Barbara. "We don't know what's going to happen if she keeps on having them."

Charles nodded, scratching his head.

Adam summoned and opened the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, handing it over to Charles who took it. "I have this particular section bookmarked. Figured you would want to take a look at it."

He read the part about visions and the part about mediumship, closing the book and handing it back to Adam. The male ghost summoned it away, focusing his attention back on the rest of the family. Charles cleared his throat, saying, "has she been experiencing anything else as well?"

"I've been hearing voices," said Lydia. "Unfamiliar voices at that."

"Hmm...." Charles rested a hand under his chin, thinking to himself for a few minutes. "I think we should take her to a local medium to get a little more insight on this. Delia?"

"I know a local medium that just might help Lydia out!" the redheaded life coach chirped out rather excitedly, clapping her hands together. When the deceased members of the family and Lydia all just stared at her with worry, she stopped and said, "when I studied in college to become a life coach, one of my closest friends was a medium. If I recall correctly, she still lives and works around these parts."

"Well, we need to see her as soon as possible. Are you still in contact with her, Lia?" asked Barbara, deciding to shorten the life coach's name.

Delia nodded as she pulled out her phone and opened the message app, finding the contact she was looking for and sending a quick text. Putting her phone away, Delia returned her attention to the rest of the family. "I just sent a text. Hopefully it won't be long until I even get a reply from her. If I get a reply from her."

'Ping!'

Delia pulled out her phone again and read the text that was on the screen. "She would like to see us immediately. According to her, what's happening to Lydia is serious."

As the six of them left the hospital and began on their way to the medium that Delia herself knew, Charles turned to his wife with a serious question fresh in his mind. "Did she say what exactly it was?"

Delia shook her head. "No, she did not. She'll explain everything when we get there."

Charles nodded in response, turning his attention back to what was in front of him.

They made it to the townhouse Delia's medium friend lived in and Delia rang the doorbell before stepping back and waiting. After what seemed like forever, the door opened and Delia's friend, a slender white woman around the same age as Delia and Charles stepped out, looking around at the waiting family of six.

"Delia! It's been forever!" She wrapped her arms around her and the two of them pulled away after a few minutes. "Come on in, all of you!" she urged the lot in. The living filed inside and the dead teleported inside, the seven meeting up in the living room. Sitting herself down on the couch after offering the living something to drink, she turned to Delia. "Now, you said your stepdaughter's been having visions and hearing voices right?"

Delia's response was a nod and her friend wrote that down.

Delia's friend turned to Lydia. "Have you been seeing things? Like shadows out of the corner of your eye? Or ghosts that aren't those two?" She gestured to Adam and Barbara, both ghosts immediately becoming appalled. "Or even demons that aren't him?" She gestured to Betelgeuse.

Lydia leaned back, resting her arms around the Maitlands' shoulders. "Other than all of my deceased pals? No. Not really."

"I see..." Delia's friend wrote that all down as well.

Adam looked towards Delia's friend with an expression of astonishment that matched that of Barbara's. Turning to him, she asked, "yes?"

"How can you see us?" he asked, his tone filled with confusion.

She let out a small laugh. "All mediums can see and communicate with the dead. Some from an early age. Others at a later age. I, myself, have been able to see the dead from an early age, having first taken notice when I was around four or five years of age."

Adam nodded in response and Barbara hummed in agreement, the two ghosts holding Betelgeuse, who was desperately trying to hit on Delia's friend, back.

"But the first time I saw the Maitlands and Betelgeuse, I was in a state of depression from losing my biological mother. Can you explain more about that?" Lydia asked.

"It may have something to do with that. Or it could stem from your childhood."

Charles chose to speak up. "Now that I think about it. When she was younger, she always told her late mother and I about the shadow people in her bedroom."

With another nod, Delia's friend wrote that all that down before turning to Lydia. "You ever thought about becoming a medium yourself?"